


Turn It Back

by alecmagnuslwb



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Magic, Papa Midnite mentioned, deaging spell, it's not necessarily fluff but it's also not necessarily not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25992904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alecmagnuslwb/pseuds/alecmagnuslwb
Summary: John gets hit with a deaging spell after saying something particularly rude to another magic wielder and Zatanna is left to fix it.
Relationships: John Constantine/Zatanna Zatara
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Turn It Back

**Author's Note:**

> Writer’s month day 19, prompt: Deaging

“You just had to get in the last word, huh?” Zatanna yells, violently turning the pages of the book in front of her. “You couldn’t just walk away for once, stay quiet and not insult him.”

She lets out a noise next that’s akin to the sounds he’s heard in animal documentaries before a predator kills their prey and he backs up a bit from her gritting his teeth.

It’s not like he meant for this to happen, he didn’t purposely provoke Papa Midnite to place this specific curse on him. He’d actually been quite cordial for once right up until the very end of their conversation. He didn’t want to be standing here slowly aging backwards to the point that he’s fairly certain within an hour he’ll be an infant again. He just made a tiny comment, a barely there insult.

“And don’t try and tell me it was a tiny comment,” Zatanna says slamming the book closed and grabbing for another one. He backs up again, a little scared she’s now capable of reading his mind and that she’s going to throw one of the large books surrounding her at his head. “You somehow managed to insult his entire immortal life just because he made one little sly comment about your shitty looking summoning circle.”

Okay, maybe it wasn’t one tiny comment, but he was defending his honor. Not that he’s going to say that out loud as his defense, she’ll let this curse on him run its course if he does. He already looks and feels like he’s 20 again, like when he and Zee first met, and if she doesn’t figure out a way to undo this it’s going to become a big problem in mere minutes.

At first it was kind of funny, pleasing even, watching as old scars disappeared, as the dark circles under his eyes faded bit by bit and the laughs lines receded. There’s worse thing in the world that being able to get some of the health he had and pissed away back. Hell even regaining that youthful feel of being 20 again had felt fun for a few minutes, but knowing that it’s only going to last a few minutes makes the reality of it hit hard.

He looks at his hands the scar from the night he met Zatanna and stopped a blade from hitting her dead on fading away from his now unblemished skin.

He watches as she intently reads a page and then looks at John. He feels it happen another scar disappears, this one a tiny circular cigarette burn on his stomach from where he’d fallen asleep with a lit one in his hand in a dingy motel and nearly burnt the place down when he was 19. The stretch of his bones starts to occur, about to go excruciatingly in reverse like it already has once repairing never quite properly healed broken bones, this time the sting is stronger. This is the backtrack of natural growth.

“If this spell makes you any younger, we’re gonna have to break up or else I’ll be committing a felony,” she says eyeing him with an uncomfortable look trying to play it as a joke and failing by a mile.

“Any chance you’ve found a way to fix this so we don’t have to do that,” he says a sharp pain shooting through both of his legs, Zatanna hurriedly turns back to the books ignoring her gut instinct to go to him and help. Nothing like a late age puberty growth spurt going backwards. He grits his teeth at the pain and feels it as his clothes become a little looser and his point of view goes a little lower.

It’s like how Tom Hanks must have felt at the end of _Big_ , but with tortuous pain instead of nice genie man in a box just poofing him back to how he was supposed to be.

“Stay here,” she says rushing past him and out of the room. He really doesn’t want the House of Mystery to be his final resting place, but judging from the excruciating pain he’s fairly certain it’s going to be.

“Couldn’t move if I tried,” he mumbles falling to the floor gripping everywhere in pain. He curls up on his side, ears ringing with pain as he feels every part of him contort his eyes shutting tightly. Papa Midnite would pick the most excruciating deaging curse in the world, it’s very on brand for him.

He doesn’t hear Zatanna come back into the room, but judging from the sharp gasp she lets out when she sees him he’s gotten a lot younger. That’s when she stabs him.

Well he definitely didn’t expect Zatanna to resort to just taking him out of his misery and if she did he never would have predicted brutal stabbing to be the way she’d go about it. The pain of the stab is concentrated, but dull considering how much burning ache is running through his entire body right now.

“Dammit Zee, warn a... guy,” he says and that’s when everything fades to black.

When he wakes there’s sunlight streaming in through an open curtain. He squints his eyes at it turning just enough to spot Zatanna lying beside him still fully dressed in what she’d been wearing the night before, her makeup a little smudged at the edges.

He feels hazy and one look at his hands tells him that he’s no longer slowly descending into pre-pubescence. No, blissfully, achy scarred 30 something Constantine is back. He shifts a little onto his side and pulls himself up looking down at his body, back to the way it should be. His mind clears as he smiles and that’s when he remembers it.

“Wait, did you stab me?” he says loudly waking Zatanna up. She startles up then settles back down grumpily.

“You’re awake,” she says eyes still closed.

“Yeah, I’m awake and you stabbed me,” he says poking her on the shoulder. She bats his hand away grumbling as she sits up rubbing at her eyes smudging her makeup even more. It’s cute even if he’s a little upset she stabbed him.

“You’re welcome,” she says leaning against the headboard beside him. John’s eyes widen at that, he knows logistically she did something that undid the curse, but he’s not really getting how stabbing him helped. Zatanna rolls her eyes with a yawn. “Steel blades forged by fairies from Underhill are bore to protect you from curses. Now usually that means carry one and it’ll stop the curse before it hits you, but theoretically it means that it could also cut the curse out. Literally.”

“So you didn’t stab me due to years of pent up aggression and just wanting me to shut up then?” he says with a cheeky grin.

Zatanna snorts at that. “Maybe that was a little bit of the reason, but mostly I was just saving your ass,” she smiles brushing a hand over his bare shoulder. “As soon as you were fully back to the age your supposed to be I healed you right up, won’t even leave a scar.”

“Hm, too bad this one would have had a great story to go with it,” he chuckles and Zatanna punches him in the shoulder. He feigns injury rubbing at it sourly.

“You’re not telling anyone about this ever, it’ll give Midnite too much pleasure,” she says with a pointed glare. She’s right, as usual.

He stops rubbing at his shoulder and sobers up looking at her seriously.

“Thank you for saving my ass and not letting me turn back into a fetus,” he says with a genuine smile.

“While I did have valued stake in you not turning into a fetus for completely selfish reasons, you’re welcome,” she says. “Next time just let him have the last word for once, okay?”

He nods. He’ll try, he won’t make any promises though, hell knows the back and forth pissing match between him and Midnite isn’t likely to end any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve got four more JohnZee fics coming up for the Writer’s month challenge (and some other stuff for them after that), three that are done and will begin posting on day 26 and one that’s proving to be a challenge. Stay tuned. 
> 
> Tumblr: [alecmagnuslwb](https://alecmagnuslwb.tumblr.com/)


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